On the subject of aerial resupply there does seem to be trouble with the helicopters flying in supplies. It is mostly due to them not having anywhere to safely land without undue hazard to people on the ground or the aircrews themselves. I am very hopeful that there will soon be an influx of civilian heavy helicopters that are set up for long-line delivery of loads.

Most military helicopters, nor the crews, are set up for/trained to accomplish accurate long-line delivery. They are for a short 20' line but you still need lots of clear space. By using a 100' or longer line the aircraft never needs to land at the pickup or delivery area and can place a load in a very tight area, even the back of a truck. A small area would be much easier to secure and then fill up with multiple slingloads of water, food, and supplies for distribution.

This method would save a lot of time and drastically reduce the need for tedious and dangerous convoys. It is also much faster for the crews to just release the remote hook at the bottom of the line and let the ground folks distribute from the load rather than have the aircraft idle on the ground, risking numerous people, while lines of people pass individual cases of goods off the aircraft.

The same is true from the beginning, you don't need to load the helicopter item by item. A team of people can rig a palletized load for air transport in minutes. Many of the supplies are already palletized when they come off a plane or ship.

As far as I can tell there are no civilian helicopters headed there yet for external load work. I hope and pray that someone gets their act together and gets the ball rolling, and quick.

I'm packed and ready.